Mark Reads ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’: Chapter 14

In the fourteenth chapter of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the Gryffindor fourth years finally have a class with Mad-Eye Moody. And it’s not only really entertaining, but it causes Harry’s mind to explode due to what it means to his past. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Harry Potter.

CHAPTER 14: THE UNFORGIVABLE CURSES

Seriously, though, I should just learn to expect that J.K. Rowling is going to take something I learned about this series and turn it on its head.

Imagine these two images in your brain. For the first half of the chapter, my face looked like this:

And then, the second half of the chapter, my face looked like this:

GUYS, SHIT IS GETTING REALER AND REALER.

I was a bit sad to read that, straight-up, Mad-Eye Moody would only be around for a year. It has become kind of comical how Hogwarts can’t keep a single Dark Arts teacher longer than a year. But at least Moody is honest about it from the beginning.

I found the Unforgivable Curses to be pretty disturbing and appreciated that both Dumbledore and Moody were willing to teach these to younger students, despite their dark nature.

But Moody does something that makes him such a wonderful teacher: he inspires students to want to learn. Rowling writes how students like Ron and Neville are now raising their hands to answer questions, instead of having a lone Hermione thrust her hand up in the air like always. And even if Moody’s technique is hyper-serious, it almost doesn’t really matter. He’s got the kids interested and completely psyched on learning.

I hope all of you have had the experience of having a teacher who made learning so exciting and wonderful. I can think of a handful. Mr. Marshall, my AP Lit teacher my senior year of high school. He introduced me to Albert Camus’s The Stranger, which, by the way, totally changed my life, dudes. Or Mrs. Janewicz, whose teaching made this blog possible. And I mean that. Three years of journalism with her made my job at Buzznet happen. (I don’t know if she knows that, but it’s true.)

Dr. Roberts from Cal State Long Beach (RIP, sir :/ :/ ) taught most of my Political Science classes, taught me about privilege, and taught me how not to be a xenophobic asshole. He would teach every ideology as if he believed them, explaining why people believe the things they do instead of explaining what people believed.

I could go on, but you get the point. Maybe this is why I want to be so lenient on Moody’s rule breaking. Sometimes you have to go against the grain when you want to spark the desire to learn in other people.

That being said…what the hell did Moody do to Neville?

• Harry looked around at her. She was looking, not at the spider, but at Neville, and Harry, following her gaze, saw that Neville’s hands were clenched upon the desk in front of him, his knuckles white, his eyes wide and horrified.

Later in the chapter, Neville visits Moody and the tone and pitch of his voice changes. And he’s excited about learning. So….what?

But, of course, I know you all want me to talk about one thing:

Avada Kedavra.

I’ve seen the name of this curse floating around for years. And it keeps popping up as a trending topic on Twitter. In fact:

I should change that to San Francisco.

So it’s a curse of death. And it’s hard to conjure and immediately fatal. Except…

• “Not nice,” he said calmly. “Not pleasant. And there’s no countercurse. There’s no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he’s sitting right in front of me.”

OH.

SHIT.

I love how Rowling allows Harry to exist in the moment and think about what this revelation means for him. I’m sure Harry, at this point, already feels like the spotlight is on him way too much, and this isn’t going to help. The fact that Rowling focuses on Harry’s thoughts as the class continues on is a great technique.

Poor Harry.

But there are two things that make this chapter kind of adorable and less depressing. Hermione’s revelation of S.P.E.W.–the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare–as the reason why she’s been hanging out at the library so much is unbearably endearing. I kind of don’t want to spend an hour ruminating further on privilege and oppression, especially since I spent an entire review rambling about WAH WAH WAH WHITE PEOPLE and such. But I will point out this: I think it’s awesome that Hermione has recognized the privilege she has as a human and is using it to both center and empower those who don’t have it.

It’s brilliant and I want to give Hermione all the hugs.

And finally: Sirius Black. Please come back.

It looks like he’s going to, as he’s alarmed by the news that Harry’s scar is hurting again and the rumor that Mad-Eye Moody is out of retirement.

So….hurry up and come back, Sirius? So then Harry can stay at your house and unicorns and puppies and teddy bears and rainbows.

Thanks.